


Steal My Heart (Not My Wallet)

by Librarian_Alexandria



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - No Powers, M/M, Thief Nico Di Angelo, bar au?, idk what this is, thief au?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-26
Updated: 2020-12-26
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:02:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,208
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28342839
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Librarian_Alexandria/pseuds/Librarian_Alexandria
Summary: In which Nico is a thief, Percy is a sap for his family and they are both at the same bar, twice
Relationships: Nico di Angelo/Percy Jackson
Comments: 2
Kudos: 43





	Steal My Heart (Not My Wallet)

Nico di Angelo was working. It was about 10 pm on a Saturday night at The Pegasus bar, dimly lit and relatively busy. Well, busy for The Pegasus. A couple of men playing pool, three at the bar, one with a pretty blonde almost in his lap. One of them, wearing an obnoxious Save the Sea Animals shirt (it was covered in turtles, whales, dolphins, penguins, and a dozen other marine animals with big puppy dog eyes), winked at him. His wallet was poking over the edge of his back pocket, bulging out because of the way he was sitting.  
That was his mark.

He walked over slowly, trying to look both disinterested and mysterious. The ocean-bleeding-heart raised a brow, and chuckled into his beer.  
"Wanna by me a drink?" he tried, sliding onto the barstool beside him.  
"Only if you tell me your name," the guy said, and okay, he had a nice voice. Nico instinctively looked him dead on and was immediately disarmed by how pretty his eyes were.  
"Uh-um, uh, Nico," he said lamely.  
"Percy," the guy, evidently called Percy, said and took another sip of beer.  
"My drink?" Nico tried again, attempting to look "sultry".  
Percy looked amused, and ordered him a beer. Nico took a sip and couldn’t stop himself from pulling a face. Beer was rank. Percy laughed, and Nico was really starting to like that sound. But he wouldn’t be distracted. This was just work, practice, a way to better his skills and pay rent.  
“Not a beer fan? Let me guess, you’re the brooding type who nurses a whiskey for an hour instead?” he joked, sliding Nico’s beer over to himself.  
“Why don’t you order something, and I’ll consider picking up your tab, if you’re good company? Here, just let me-” he offered, and then, with the most shit-eating grin, he tried to chug both beers. This earned him glares from around the bar, but Nico was almost falling off his seat, laughing despite himself.  
Golden Idea.  
He let himself slip, landing on the floor with a thud. Percy immediately stopped his showing off and hopped off his stool to help him up, and Nico, with sticky fingers he’d spent years perfecting (or, as he had once heard them described as, piano hands. Piano hands sounded much more elegant), he swiped Percy’s wallet from his back pocket, and let it slide down his sleeve. All this, while playing it off as trying to get back up again. Percy offered him a hand, and Nico took it with his non-wallet one. As he stood again, he made a show of brushing himself off, letting Percy’s (or his, now) wallet fall into his boot. He wore large ones for this purpose exactly. 

He should have left then.  
But he stayed for that drink, which he corrected Percy that no, whiskey wasn’t his thing per se.  
10 minutes and half a vodka cranberry later, he and Percy were deep in conversation, and Percy was dropping massive hints and unsubtle invitations, making Nico blush and snort each time, earning what he had already pinned as the Percy Smile.  
His drink was almost finished, and before Percy could offer, he slid a few notes across to the bartender, shot Percy a particularly bold wink, and slipped out of the bar again. 

After a brisk walk, he was back at his apartment, dodging his golden retriever incarnate neighbour as he ushered party guests in and out of his hallway.  
When he finally let himself flop down on his bed, he pulled out the wallet from his shoe. He felt a little bad, since Percy seemed really sweet and properly interested in him, and yeah, maybe he was hot.  
All that pity melted away when he opened it, spotting a slightly crumpled picture of a woman and a baby, with a little heart drawn in the corner. The woman’s wedding ring stood bright yellow against her skin.  
He was married? With a kid? God, what an asshole! Chatting up dudes in a bar!  
Nico scoffed to himself as he fished out a couple 20s and one very crinkly $50 bill, along with a bus card, way too much change, and several stamp cards from coffee shops and take out places. They were all less than half-filled.  
What a dick, Nico thought, and went to brush his teeth. 

Two weeks later, he was at Aunty M’s, another grungy, badly lit bar filled with a few patrons. Nico had already slid past a pool player and nicked the wad of tens from his pocket. He was now sitting at the bar, feeling a bit too full of himself. There was no way big burly pool player over there would suspect little old him. He hadn’t even noticed Nico at all.  
He stepped out to have a cigarette, almost giddy.  
And then there was a voice behind him.  
“Mind if I join you?”  
Ah, shit.  
He turned around slightly, catching sight of pretty boy Percy with a look on his face that Nico would describe a “flirty”. Before he could think better of it, he blurted out, in disgust,  
“You’re married!”  
Percy looked very confused, then frowned.  
“No I’m- wait, Nico? You were at the Pegasus when- hey, you stole my wallet!”  
Nico was fired up now.  
“And so? You deserve it, flirting with me at the bar when you have a lovely wife and a kid! Don’t deny it, I saw their picture in your wallet. She looks wonderful, and she deserves better than that!” he half-shouted, aware of how close they were to the bar.  
Percy paused for a second, and to Nico’s complete surprise, burst out laughing.  
“That’s my mom,” he said after catching his breath, “and my little sister.”  
Nico ran out of steam very quickly.  
“But I- and you- oh I feel like a real asshole now,” he murmured to the ground.  
“Look, if you could give me back my bank cards and the picture of my mom, and you buy me all my drinks this evening, I’ll consider it even. Oh, and my stamps. I’m like, four pizzas away from a free one.”  
Nico was bright red and refused to look up.  
“I- fuck, I’m really sorry,” he said, wanting to reel off excuses, explain himself. It wasn’t like he started stealing for fun. Life as shit, and he’d been dealt a shitty hand.  
But Percy just patted him on the shoulder, a bit awkwardly.  
“Honestly, I’m sure my mom would be flattered at you defending her honour like that,” he joked. 

The story of how they met was told often, and the details became a bit fuzzy, as Nico stopped correcting Percy and retreated into a blushing mess when he would retell it. By the time Jason, Percy’s best man, was telling the story at their wedding, Nico was a leather-clad femme-fatale type cat burglar and Percy was a simpering doofus thinking with his other head, and when they met the second time Nico had decked him on sight to defend Sally, a woman he’d never met. By now, Nico could laugh along, but he still tried to apologize, mainly to Sally, for robbing her son.  
It was a pretty good meet-cute, though.

**Author's Note:**

> uhhh ? merry boxing day


End file.
